Title race is on for Barca
Messi and Co brush aside Sevilla to reignite La Liga hopes
MADRID: Barcelona reignited their title hopes after Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele scored in a 2-0 victory over Sevilla to put them two points behind Atletico Madrid.
Atletico still have two games in hand but a dip in form from La Liga’s leaders has given their chasing rivals hope.
Barcelona looked dead and buried a few weeks ago but this was their ninth win out of 10 in La Liga, a surge that has put them back in contention, with Atletico playing against Real Madrid next weekend.
“We’ve taken some big hits and we have got up again,” said Barcelona’s Gerard Pique.
“Of course the title race is on, there is confidence and a lot of hope in this team.”
Sevilla started the day as arguably the form team at the top, having won all of their last six league games, the last five of those without conceding a goal. But they were second best at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, a dominant performance from Barcelona exposing them still as slightly short of Spain’s top three.
It also creates an intriguing backdrop to Wednesday’s Spanish King’s Cup semi-final second leg when these two teams meet again, with Barcelona hoping to overturn a 2-0 deficit at the Nou Camp.
Although Pedri and Ronald Araujo could be doubts after both were substituted in the second half with injury problems.
“We believe we can come back but Wednesday is a different game,” said coach Ronald Koeman.
“We have to play a perfect match, only then do we have a chance.”
Koeman could well stick with his new 3-5-2 system, which saw Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest playing as wingbacks ahead of a back three and Dembele deployed up front alongside Messi.
Without Antoine Griezmann, who dropped to the bench, Koeman sacrificed some creativity in the final third for control through the middle, not to mention the threat of Dembele in behind.
Certainly for the best part of an hour Sevilla struggled to escape Barcelona’s press or establish any sustained pressure, even after Julen Lopetegui introduced three substitutes at half-time and switched formation to match their opponents.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen was passed fit to play by the team doctor despite hurting his right thumb in the warmup and in truth it was hardly tested in the first half.
Barcelona controlled the game and while Alba and Dest never really advanced as much as Koeman might have liked, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri were a constant threat through the middle, with the speedy Dembele just in front.
Chances, though, were few and far between and it took a counter-attack for Barcelona to take the lead.
Fernando gave the ball away cheaply up front and two passes were enough, Messi curling the decisive one through for Dembele to race clear and finish.
One of Lopetegui’s substitutes Youssef En-Nesyri had Sevilla’s best chance but headed over.
Yet without a second goal, a nervy finale was always likely and En-Nesyri found the corner on the turn but had the goal ruled out for a handball, his tussle with Araujo seeing Barca’s defender go off and he booted some chairs over in frustration. But Sevilla’s push was brief, ended by Messi with six minutes left.